Michael Bessette will serve as the Kearsarge Regional School District’s next superintendent of schools. The school board voted to appoint him last week.
Bessette served as the district’s interim superintendent since June following his decade-long tenure as assistant superintendent. In that role, he supervised elementary administration and aided middle and high school leadership, served as the Title IX coordinator, managed some grant budgets and helped develop the district’s strategic plan.
“I am grateful to the Board for its confidence and honored to continue serving the students, families, and staff of Kearsarge,” Bessette said in a statement. “This is a district with remarkable educators and deeply engaged communities. I look forward to the work ahead with all seven of our towns.”
Bessette began his teaching career as a middle school science teacher in Derry and Afton, New York, during which time he was named the Sallie Mae First Class Teacher of the Year for New York State in 1994. Between 2002 and 2016, he served as principal of Maple Street School in Hopkinton, where he implemented a professional learning community model.
He previously served as assistant principal both at Timberlane Regional Middle School in Plaistow and at East Derry Elementary School, as well as an adjunct professor at New England College from 2012 to 2016, instructing undergraduate teacher preparation and graduate-level school law.
Bessette has held multiple positions within the New Hampshire School Administrators Association. He also belongs to Southern New Hampshire University’s Graduate Program Accreditation Board and is a past president of NH Learning Forward. He received the NHSAA Outstanding Service Award in 2023.
“Michael has spent a decade helping build the systems, staff, and culture that define Kearsarge,” said Alison Mastin, Chair of the Kearsarge Regional School Board, in a statement. “In his time as Interim Superintendent, he demonstrated exactly the steady leadership, transparency, and commitment to students that our seven communities expect. The Board is confident he is the right leader for this district’s next chapter.”
